Claire Newton

Strategy, planning, management across a range of cross team projects. Responsible for recruitment, retention and supporter journey of flagship regular giving product (Sponsor a Puppy), utilising donor recognition, impact reporting, digital marketing, printed media. Set up highly successful pilot of face-to-face private site fundraising (a charity first) without any additional resource. Also responsible for warm appeals, lottery (including a re-brand), raffle, lead generation, in-memoriam stewardship, and legacy marketing. Used data and insight to make informed decisions about segmentation and project management costs; tested messaging style, medium, format. Obsessed with understanding audience to deliver the best supporter experience possible. Manage team of seven with three direct reports.

Acquisition: managed all appeals from concept to delivery; tested new income streams – planned for lottery and in-hospital donation kiosks. Retention: development and management of high-quality supporter journeys and supporter comms, including regular magazine and warm appeals both digital and postal. Database: manage segmentation and insight as well as compliance; copywriting, stewardship, planning, budgeting and strategy. Managed Supporter Care team of three and introduced new standards of processing, thanking and stewardship raised the bar for supporters' experience. Tailored, regular communications, including a brand-new Impact Report, Gifts in Wills booklet, and thank you letters (included training for the Supporter Care team in letter-writing). I also reintroduced in-person Supporter Events by coordinating a hugely successful Major Donor Supporter Event.

Creation and delivery of a programme of key charity communications. Reintroduced a regular schedule for the biannual charity magazine, delivered an average 3:1 ROI. Created and managed regular e-newsletters for supporters and supporting Fundraising in delivery of mass communications. Set-up the internal job briefing system to improve the efficacy of internal support to other teams within the charity.

Worked 1.5 days per week in a freelance trust fundraising role, writing applications to a range of grant-making organisations. I regularly liaised and worked directly with trustees to coordinate fundraising approaches.

Working at a senior level in a variety of roles focusing on creative services, donor communications, stewardship, strategic planning, in-house-training courses. Charity clients have included: WRVS, Breast Cancer Care, IndependentAge, Carers UK, Traidcraft, Riders for Health, Battersea Dogs & Cats, Which?, Send a Cow, Mission Aviation Fellowship, Macmillan, Y Care International, Forest Peoples Programme, and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). In 2017, I co-founded the Secret Giver Scheme, a mystery shopping and competitor review programme for the voluntary sector which examined supporter journeys/experience using quantitative and qualitative research.

Recruited as a part-time maternity cover, my remit was widened to utilise my skills and experience: specifically, supported the welcome strategy, wrote the 2020 Christmas appeal and supporter magazine, in addition to applications to grant-making trusts.

Wrote and managed small scale fundraising appeals and charity communications for a range of charity clients including: Addaction; Breakthrough Breast Cancer; Children’s Aid Direct; FERN; Practical Action; VSO.

Research and submission of targeted trust applications; most successful application was Garfield Weston Foundation for approximately £350k.

Responded to varying telephone and written enquiries from Oxfam supporters of all kinds and the general public.

Wrote a range of materials including leaflets for schools, Fair Trade materials, and events materials (the Big Fast).

Worked in a supporting role on Oxfam’s highly successful and ground-breaking £2 per month acquisition strategy for new donors; data analysis

A temporary role that provided administrative support to the Marketing Manager of Oxfam Publications.